Steve McClaren laughs off speculation linking him with vacant QPR job

The Derby County manager, Steve McClaren, has appeared to rule himself out of the running to take over at Queen’s Park Rangers by dismissing questions on whether he was interested in the vacant post.

Asked at his press conference if he would be willing to speak to the club about the job, McClaren said: “Shall we move on? Good try!

“I answered that [speculation] a few weeks ago, and it is the same answer now. Nothing changes. We laugh it off and move on quick. So let’s focus and concentrate on the job in hand which is trying to get Derby County into the Premier League.”

The Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement has also gone on record to say that he had “no intention” of leaving the club midway through the season. Given that those two are the other candidates who had been considered by chairman Tony Fernandes – currently outside Britain on business unrelated to QPR – it leaves Tim Sherwood as the only available candidate.

London clubs: Winners and losers in the January transfer window

London clubs: Winners and losers in the January transfer window

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TOTTENHAM - 50/50

The club needed a new forward — sound familiar? — and didn’t get one because they failed to offload either Adebayor or Roberto Soldado.
Mauricio Pochettino decided he wanted to keep Soldado until the summer while Adebayor was reluctant to take many of the options presented to him. The one he favoured, West Ham, ultimately fell through because of a disagreement between the clubs about how his £100,000-a-week wages would be funded.
Danny Ings and Kevin Mirallas, two prominent targets, would have improved this squad considerably. But it was unrealistic to expect Burnley and Everton to let them go in mid-season.
The concern for Pochettino is unwanted players — Adebayor, Younes Kaboul, Etienne Capoue — have stayed. But the Argentine has proved adept at rotating his squad and he must continue to be so. Paulinho and Mousa Dembele are back in favour and must justify the decision to keep them.
Looking further ahead, Spurs also did a £5m deal for highly rated midfielder Dele Alli, loaning him back to MK Dons for the rest of the season. (Tom Collomosse).

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ARSENAL - WINNERS

Arsene Wenger addressed two chief squad weaknesses while avoiding the deadline-day scramble that has been the club’s hallmark in recent years.
However, only time will tell as to how effectively the holes have been plugged. Krystian Bielik could be anything at 17 years old and although Wenger has put the defensive midfielder straight into the first-team group, it would be asking a lot for him to make an immediate impact.
Gabriel Paulista provides vital cover in defence and his performances for Villarreal make him a promising signing at a relatively cheap £11.2million.
Two frustrated strikers have been sent on loan with Lukas Podolski going to Inter Milan and Joel Campbell heading to Spain as part of the Gabriel deal, while Yaya Sanogo will gain useful experience at Crystal Palace. Injuries to Olivier Giroud and/or Danny Welbeck would leave Wenger short of strikers but on balance this was a positive and efficient window for Arsenal. (James Olley)

Academy coach Chris Ramsey will take the club’s press conference today and will be in caretaker charge alongside assistant manager Kevin Bond for tomorrow’s league game at home to Southampton.

It now looks unlikely that the new manager will be in the dugout in time for the match at Sunderland on Tuesday.

QPR have not won a game since 20 December and Bond and Ramsey have to select a side from a first-team squad consisting largely of players out of contract in the summer, or the following year. The club’s first-choice goalkeeper Robert Green said that Harry Redknapp’s decision to quit as manager was a “shock”.

“It came as a surprise to everybody,” he said, adding about the future: “Football fans, and QPR supporters in particular, can be really galvanised during extreme circumstances. That could well be the case on Saturday. As a group of players, we have got to come out fighting. Hopefully the fans will take that on board and be with us.”